Beyoncé sends love to Lizzo at 'Renaissance' show amid lawsuit controversy (original) (raw)
Beyoncé sent love to Lizzo — who's currently embroiled in a lawsuit controversy involving former backup dancers — on stage during the Atlanta stop of her ongoing Renaissance world tour.
According to several videos posted to social media after Monday's concert, Beyoncé ad-libbed while performing her Madonna collaboration "Break My Soul (The Queens Remix)," and shouted out Lizzo in the middle of the song.
"I love you, Lizzo," Beyoncé said, shortly after singing the "About Damn Time" performer's name as it originally appeared in the lyrics of the tune, which references influential Black women in music history.
One day after Lizzo's former dancers sued the "Truth Hurts" singer and her dance captain Shirlene Quigley for alleged sexual and religious harassment and creating a toxic work environment, Beyoncé skipped over both Lizzo and Kelly Rowland's names while performing the "Break My Soul" remix in Massachusetts, and instead repeated Erykah Badu's last name seemingly as a nod to Badu's recent Instagram comment about inspiring Beyoncé's hat.
Beyoncé resumed singing Lizzo's name when the Renaissance tour resumed days later just outside Washington, D.C.
A representative for Beyoncé did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment.
In response to the lawsuit, Quigley posted an Instagram video in which she told her followers, "God loves you," while Lizzo released a statement refuting the dancers' claims.
"These last few days have been gut-wrenchingly difficult and overwhelmingly disappointing," the 35-year-old wrote. "My work ethic, morals, and respectfulness have been questioned. My character has been criticized. Usually I choose not to respond to false allegations, but these are as unbelievable as they sound and too outrageous to not be addressed. These sensationalized stories are coming from former employees who have already publicly admitted that they were told their behavior on tour was inappropriate and unprofessional."
Amid fallout from the suit, Lizzo's co-headlining set with SZA was nixed from Jay-Z's Made in America festival, while Oscar-nominated filmmaker Sophia Nahli Allison said she quit production on the Max documentary Love, Lizzo after two weeks of observing what she called "such disrespect" from Lizzo.
Lizzo thanked Beyoncé for 'changing my life' during Record of the Year acceptance speech. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
Lizzo has long declared herself a Beyoncé fan, including at the 2023 Grammys when she dedicated a portion of an acceptance speech to the Destiny's Child superstar.
"Beyoncé, in the fifth grade I skipped school to see you perform. My sister, she got me out of school — it was literature, I'm good," Lizzo said through tears in February as she accepted the Record of the Year trophy. "You changed my life. You sang that gospel medley, and the way you made me feel — I was like, 'I want to make people feel this way with my music.' So thank you so much. You clearly are the artist of our lives. I love you!"
Lizzo previously shared a video of her attending the Renaissance tour in June, with the clip showing her tear up while watching Beyoncé sing her name in "The Queens Remix."
Watch Beyoncé give Lizzo a shout-out on stage in the video above.
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